10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.
This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1121.
THE FLASHCUBES: Taking Inventory
Last week was not a good week. Let's leave at that. Instead, let's focus on the delights that distract us. My most delightful current distraction is Flashcubes On Fire, a killer new set preserving an absolutely ace live show by my favorite power pop group, the Flashcubes, performing at the Firebarn in Syracuse on May 26th, 1979. I wrote the liner notes, and the disc itself fully lives up to my memory and to my ongoing conviction that the Flashcubes were as kickass a live act as anyone ever. I'm thrilled, thrilled, that more people now have this chance to hear a hint of what permanenty turned my then-teen head in the late '70s. Ducky Carlisle introduces the 'Cubes--Some day, very soon from now, you people are going to be able to say, "I saw this band before they were famous"--and there's no question the Flashcubes shoulda hit big. The live version of guitarist Arty Lenin's "Taking Inventory" smokes in a way the studio demo can't dream of matching. You had to see the Flashcubes play live; you had to. I'm so grateful I had that chance to do so. I wish I'd had even more chances.
DOLLY PARTON: Don't Drop Out
The legendary Dolly Parton is one of this month's pop culture heroes for her statement wishing to be removed from consideration for induction into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. It's a symbolic gesture--ballots have already been distributed, and I'm sure some voting members have already already cast their lot with the gal from Tennessee--but it speaks to Parton's poise and class nonetheless. We can bicker about whether or not Dolly Parton's body of work in country music qualifies her for rock 'n' roll recognition, and I'm not sure which side I'd take (though I have no objection to her nomination, nor to Eminem's nomination). But I hope she does make that rock 'n' roll album she's now promised to do.
And I couldn't resist taking this opportunity to slip Dolly's fantastic 1966 girl-group single "Don't Drop Out" into the TIRnRR mix, and to bellow on air, "Don't drop out, Dolly! DON'T DROP OUT...!"
THE ROMANTICS: National Breakout
The Flashcubes shared a bill with Detroit's phenomenal pop combo the Romantics on a few occasions, and although that group's indie singles made me a Romantics fan even before their first album further demonstrated what I like about them--HEY!!--logistics forced me to miss every damned one of their Syracuse appearances in the '70s. What a perfect double bill! The title tune from the Romantics' second album National Breakout has long been one of my fave raves, and I'll be talking a bit more about it when my long-dormant 5 Above blog series returns with a piece about my top five Romantics tracks.
THE HOODOO GURUS: Carry On
Speaking of classic pop bands from previous decades, the Hoodoo Gurus--yes, the freakin' HOODOO GURUS!--have just released a new album, Chariot Of The Gods. We played advance single "Get Out Of Dodge" a bit in 2021, but the go-to track now is the roof-rattling "Carry On." It's back on the radio again next Sunday night. We play the hits.
THE FLASHCUBES: You're Not The Police
'Cubes bassist Gary Frenay's "You're Not The Police" was among the highlights of their 1979 live sets, a boppin' li'l number about a possessive girlfriend. If I wanted the cops, I'd be watchin' TV. In A Brighter Light In My Mind, my what-if fantasy about a world where the Flashcubes achieved the fame and acclaim that was their due, "You're Not The Police" was a # 7 smash hit. I sometimes like my made-up world considerably more than I like this dumb ol' real world. Stupid real world.
THE FLASHCUBES: Face In The Crowd
In the above-mentioned Flashcubes fantasy piece, guitarist Paul Armstrong's "Face In The Crowd" was the title tune from a fictional Top Ten Flashcubes album, an album that (in that world) also contained "You're Not The Police" and Frenay's # 1 smash "My Little Angel." Yeah, again--much better, brighter world over there. Back to reality, the live "Face In The Crowd" previously appeared on the bonus disc originally included with our own 2013 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 3. "Face In The Crowd" and the live "Got No Mind" (which was on the Flashcubes anthology Bright Lights) are the only Firebarn '79 'Cubes tracks to see release prior to Flashcubes On Fire.
CRABBY APPLETON: Go Back
Writer and noted good guy Bill Holmes sent us a note complimenting this week's TIRnRR playlist, with specific praise for our spin of Crabby Appleton's 1970 woulda-coulda-shoulda gem "Go Back." Bill wrote, "This week's double secret probation points awarded for recognizing (what should have been) a top ten hit as well as one of the greatest dashboard drumming songs ever recorded. Whole album is killer; Michael Fennelly's vocals were vastly underrated."
THE RUNAWAYS: Hollywood
Up top, I mentioned that I wish I'd been able to see the Flashcubes perform live even more often than I actually did. Because I was a college student at the time, I was only back home in Syracuse during school breaks. But I tell ya, I am very blessed to have had the chances I did have, and I've seen the Flashcubes on more occasions than I've seen any other act. That distinction in my virtual ticket stub gallery will never, ever be challenged.
My first Flashcubes show was positively seismic in its effect on me. A few months later, I saw the 'Cubes open for the Runaways and the Ramones, and that night was even more epic. There would be many more epic nights to follow. I was 18 years old then, and 19 when the 'Cubes played the 1979 gig we hear on Flashcubes On Fire. Seismic? Brothers and sisters, "seismic" ain't even the half of it.
Prior to this week, I don't think TIRnRR had ever played "Hollywood" (from the Runaways' second album, 1977's Queen Of Noise). It was a track I played many a time as a teen, but the radio show's preferred Runaways fare has generally been "Cherry Bomb," "School Days," and their (definitive) cover of the Velvet Underground's "Rock And Roll," and a few scattered others. I think we may delve a bit deeper into the Runaways' catalog on some near-future shows.
THE FLASHCUBES FEATURING SHOES: Tomorrow Night
While the release of Flashcubes On Fire conjures these fond and vibrant memories of the Flashcubes on stage in the '70s, it's important to remember that the mighty 'Cubes are still recording new tracks, too. Beginning in 2021, the irresistible Big Stir Records label has been the vehicle for a series of newly-recorded Flashcubes digital singles, each one a cover of something from power pop's long and storied past. Credit TIRnRR with the assist in helping to get the 'Cubes and Big Stir together (a public service which will shave eons off our post-mortality sentence in Purgatory).
There was a cover of Pezband's "Baby It's Cold Outside," which the Flashcubes recorded with the song's author Mimi Betinis. There was a cover of the Dwight Twilley Band's "Alone In My Room." Currently, there is this fabulous cover of Shoes' "Tomorrow Night," recorded with members of Shoes, and tearin' up the airwaves at better radio shows around the world.
And there's more yet to come. Decades later, it's clear that the Flashcubes are still on fire.
THE MONKEES: I Was There (And I'm Told I Had A Good Time)
"I Was There (And I'm Told I Had A Good Time)" was the closing track on the Monkees' triumphant 2016 album Good Times! The song was inspired by Micky Dolenz's oft-told reminiscence of partying with the Beatles circa 1967. It was chosen deliberately as the coda for this week's show, following the 'Cubes' Flashcubes On Fire cover of the Who's "I Can't Explain." I was there. And I know I had a good time.
I don't mean to say that I was at the Firebarn on May 26th, 1979, when Flashcubes On Fire was recorded. I might have been there. I might not have been there. But I'll testify to this: I was at a lot of Flashcubes shows in '78 and '79, shows at the Firebarn and the Slide-Inn and the Jab, at Uncle Sam's and the Brookside, at the Orange, at Stage East, at the razzafrazzin' Grape 'n' Grog, at Gildersleeves on Bowery in NYC. I saw them with the Ramones and the Runaways, with David Johansen, 999, Artful Dodger, the Fast, Joe Jackson, New Math. After the group reunited in the '90s (sometimes with deputy drummers sitting in for percussive powderkeg Tommy Allen), I saw them at Styleen's, the Lost Horizon, Syracuse's Inner Harbor, the Palace Theater, the Civic Center, Onondaga Lake Park, the Empire Room at the New York State Fairgrounds, Funk N' Waffles, Bop Shop Records in Rochester, and maybe some place else my brain won't surrender. I missed them at the Landmark Theater--outta town commitment that night--and I was never able to see them at CBGB's or International Pop Overthrow. I'll see the Flashcubes whenever and wherever fortunes places me there.
And I saw the Flashcubes play in Dave Glavin's garage on July 1st, 1979, the evening of a very, very bad day for me. Even then, the Flashcubes were able to provide delightful distraction amidst the slings and arrows of bad days, bad weeks. Then and now, loud and proud, a single finger held up against trouble and woe.
A good time in bad times. I wish I'd seen them more often. I cherish every time I did see them. Yeah, I was there. Here's to the good times.
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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl
